Battle of Wits
by dawncita95
Summary: Despite believing to have removed all thoughts of the poltergeist from her mind, in a moment the ghost with the most flashes through Lydia's mind, and he is well aware.


"_Betelgeuse!"_

His name was not something that should have come to her mind. She had thought she had removed all thoughts of the poltergeist from her mind after the whole fiasco had ended. Apparently she hadn't. Lydia Deetz sat on the pavement, drenched in rain as she stared blankly ahead of her. The bright lights of the car that had almost hit her blazing around her as the driver quickly got out. His shouted apologies did not seem to reach the girl, she made no attempt to stand up, she was in a complete state of shock. The driver of the vehicle moved towards her, gently grabbing her shoulders, pulling her out of her back into reality.

"Oh, sorry" she mumbled attempting to stand up. The man ran his hands through his disheveled hair, attempting to help the girl up.

"Don't apologize, I am so sorry, this is completely my fault. I should have been paying better attention." Lydia was once again standing as the man put his hands to his face covering his nose and mouth. The girl before him was dressed in a black turtle neck, with tight jeans and knee high lace up boots. Her dark hair, wet from the rain stuck against her cheeks. Her eyes were pretty but had an intensity about them that made it difficult to look away.

"No, I should have been watching where I was going, besides you didn't hit me, I am perfectly okay" She smiled at the man

"Let me take you to the hospital just to be sure" He seemed unsure of what common protocol was when you almost hit another person, but he was almost positive a hospital trip was in order.

"No Its okay, I just live around the corner, I will be fine" Lydia began to walk away from the man and the car who appeared befuddled by her reaction to the crash. After taking a few minutes to place her, he realized the girl was Lydia Deetz, his daughter had told him about the odd girl who lived in the Maitlands old house. His daughter was not fond of her, but had no quarrels with the teen, and seeing her for himself he quickly became aware that the oddities surrounding her were not just silly little rumors.

Lydia walked away from the near crash with her art supplies in her arms, the new sketch pad still protected in its plastic bag, and the fresh prisma colors magically unbroken. Despite everything being in perfect order aside from her being soaked to the bone, she was out of sorts. The fact that with in the instant her life could have ended she thought to call out his name scared her more than anything.

She had done her best not to even think about him, she had tried to move forward with her life and had been mostly successful. She had entered high school and had grown out of her awkward stage of life, she had become fully developed and it was no longer possible for a person to mistake her for a the 4 years that had past she was still a loner with few friends and saw little need in making more. She was intelligent, but was seen as an idealist by many teachers. Despite her distaste of school she was on track to graduate with in a few months.

The car that had almost hit her had finally driven off, despite being physically well, her mind was panicked. She did not want to go back to thinking about him. His existence was something she never wanted to remember but at the moment he occupied all her thoughts.

It did not go unnoticed. Buried beneath the sand he awoke. His rotting teeth forming a smile, anticipating the games he would get to play on his child bride who had run away. Her mind had called out to him in fear, and that was close to her speaking out with her sweet lips. It had given him an opening, one he planned to take advantage of, He was not planning on losing this time, after waiting almost a year in that waiting room and then dealing with Juno. He was getting out and Lydia Deetz was the one who would help him.

* * *

Lydia hated her job sometimes, Delia had managed to get her a job at the only corporate run coffee place with in a hundred mile radius, and for some bizarre reason people were addicted to the dirt like substances she was making them. The odd concoctions of thick syrups and milk was not appealing to her, yet people were always there ordering a drink with a name they were never able to say. She would find them stumbling to find the correct word funny, but she was far to busy to focus on there struggle. For once Lydia was glad to be preoccupied with work so she wouldn't have time to think about him anymore. The previous night had been a struggle as it seemed the poltergeist had invaded her dreams turning them quickly into a nightmare.

She had awoken, with the eerie sense that it had been him, that he was purposely messing with her dreams and she was scared. Not of his ability, but of her own anger. She was terrified that she would become so enraged at the supposed, "Ghost with the most" that she would call him out to give him a piece of her mind. She wondered what had changed that had allowed him to mess with her after so long, but what made the whole situation worse, was that for all she knew, it was her own imagination recreating the horror from her past.

"Please use skim milk in that" the voice of an impatient business woman called out as Lydia made her mocha. Lydia also hated how specific some people could be about their drinks. She poured in the steamed milk allowing it to mix with the expresso and syrup. Placing a lid on the cup she put it on the counter handing it to the woman, who looked angry.

"Took ya long enough" She snarked quickly grabbing the drink as she left the building. Lydia bit her tongue to prevent screaming after her. She hated people and this job, if she didn't need to make money she would quit, but photography and art were not exactly cheap hobbies, and she did not want to have to depend on her father like her step mother did.

Another customer walked and ordered a latte, she handed him his change as well as the receipt. She began walking around the counter to create beverage, pressing buttons and adding the steamed milk. She stirred the drank and was interrupted from her concentration by the costumer.

"Pardon me miss, this receipt is not correct" Lydia looked at the outstretched receipt and almost dropped the drink. Instead of the typical jargon of price and change, the receipt instead had a message typed on it.

"See ya soon Babes"

Lydia's face lost the limited amount of color it had left as she handed the costumer their drink. "Give me a moment to reprint an accurate copy" She went over to the machine and forced it to reprint the receipt. She handed the accurate copy to the costumer with a mumbled apology.

She held the inaccurate receipt in her hand. It was physical proof that something was wrong. She looked at the paper, such a simple message, but enough to make her shiver. She looked at the clock, wishing the next hour would be packed, but at only 2pm it was highly unlikely that people would come in. Instead Lydia was stuck with her thoughts and machines that for some reason kept malfunctioning. She had a feeling it was him, who was doing it, the paper tucked away in her pocket was there to reassure her that she was not insane.

As the clock finally hit three, she punched her number in, clocking out of her shift, the paper printed and she looked at it hoping it would just be the usual information, yet somehow she knew it wouldn't be. "Call me, 3 times is the charm" She placed the paper in her pocket and quickly left the building. She practically ran home. She didn't want any of it to be real, but if it was she needed to be prepared. If he was coming back, she was going to fight.

Still under the sand, he was aching to be able to move around. Despite that, he knew it wouldn't be long. After all, Lydia had a short fuse, and if he pushed the right buttons, she would call him out. Then the real fun would begin.


End file.
